With the growing complexity of synthetic biological circuits, robust and systematic methods are needed for design and test. Leveraging lessons learned from the semiconductor and design automation industries, synthetic biologists are starting to adopt computer aided design and verification software with some success. However, due to the great challenges associated with designing synthetic biological circuits, this nascent approach has to address many problems not present in electronic circuits. In this session, three leading synthetic biologists will share with us how they have developed software tools to help design and verify their synthetic circuits, the unique challenges they faced, and their insight into the next generation of tools for synthetic biology.